The field of the present invention relates generally to the ordering of a plurality of objects in a space, such as the ordering of images or photographs on a page.
Electronic photo-albums have become increasingly popular in recent times. These electronic photo-albums typically take the form of a collection of images stored using a non-volatile memory device, from which a user can retrieve the image for displaying on a display device. Usually, the images are gathered in digital form, and may, for example, be scanned by an electronic scanner, down-loaded from the Internet or produced by a digital camera. A collection of these images can be stored electronically to create an electronic photo-album, analogous to the traditional family photo-album, which uses photographic prints.
Presently, electronic photo-albums take the form of a collection of images, a user of the album being able to associate a caption or brief description with each image. For example, a user can collect a series of family photographs of a wedding, whether from a digital video or still camera, and associate a caption such as a date and a brief description of the event with each image. If desired, an electronic photo-album can be reproduced from the memory device by a high quality output device, such as a high-resolution colour printer, to produce an album substantially similar to a conventional photo-album.
The images of electronic photo-albums are typically ordered and represented in the order in which they are added. These electronic photo-albums suffer from the disadvantage that this ordering does not necessarily match an order desired by people. These electronic photo-albums also suffer from the disadvantage that this ordering may not meet the desires or cultural bias of the user.
It is an object of the present invention to ameliorate one or more disadvantages of the prior art.
According to a first aspect of the invention, there is provided a method of re-ordering a one-dimensional list of a number of original objects arranged in a space, upon the insertion of a new object in the space, the method comprising: (i) determining, for each adjacent original object if any, a corresponding line between points of the adjacent original objects; (ii) measuring, for each said line, the shortest distance from an insertion point of the new object to the said line; (iii) determining the minimum of the shortest distances; and (iv) re-ordering said one-dimensional list by inserting the new object in said list of original objects at that position in the list corresponding to that line having the minimum shortest distance.
According to a second aspect of the invention, there is provided a method of re-ordering a one-dimensional list of a number of original images arranged two-dimensionally on a page, upon the insertion of a new image on the page, the method comprising: (i) determining, for each adjacent original images if any, a corresponding line between points of the adjacent original images; (ii) determining a corresponding line between a first boundary point of the page and a said point of the first original image on the page; (iii) determining a corresponding line between a second boundary point of the page and a said point of the last original image on the page; (iv) measuring, for each said line, the shortest distance from an insertion point of the new image on the page to the said line; (v) determining the minimum of the shortest distances; and (vi) re-ordering said one-dimensional list by inserting the new image in said list of original images at that position in the list corresponding to that line having the minimum shortest distance.
According to a third aspect of the invention, there is provided an apparatus for re-ordering a one-dimensional list of a number of original objects arranged in a space, upon the insertion of a new object in the space, the apparatus comprising: means for determining, for each adjacent original object if any, a corresponding line between points of the adjacent original objects; means for measuring, for each said line, the shortest distance from an insertion point of the new object to the said line; means for determining the minimum of the shortest distances; and means for re-ordering said one dimensional list by inserting the new object in said list of original objects at that position in the list corresponding to that line having the minimum shortest distance.
According to a fourth aspect of the invention, there is provided an apparatus for re-ordering a one-dimensional list of a number of original images arranged two-dimensionally on a page upon the insertion of a new image on the page, the apparatus comprising: means for determining, for each adjacent original images if any, a corresponding line between points of the adjacent original images; means for determining a corresponding line between a first boundary point of the page and the centre point of the first original image on the page; means for determining a corresponding line between a second boundary point and the centre point of the last original image on the page; means for measuring, for each said line, the shortest distance from an insertion point of the new image on the page to the said line; means for determining the minimum of the shortest distances; and means for reordering said one-dimensional list by inserting the new image in said list of original images at that position in the list corresponding to that line having the minimum shortest distance.
According to a fifth aspect of the invention, there is provided a computer program product including a computer readable medium having recorded thereon a computer program for re-ordering a one-dimensional list of a number of original objects arranged in a space, upon the insertion of a new object in the space, the computer program product comprising: means for determining, for each adjacent original object if any, a corresponding line between points of the adjacent original objects; means for measuring, for each said line, the shortest distance from an insertion point of the new object to the said line; means for determining the minimum of the shortest distances; and means for re-ordering said one-dimensional list by inserting the new object in said list of original objects at that position in the list corresponding to that line having the minimum shortest distance.
According to a sixth aspect of the invention, there is provided a computer program product including a computer readable medium having recorded thereon a computer program for re-ordering a one-dimensional list of a number of original images arranged two-dimensionally on a page upon the insertion of a new image on the page, the computer program product comprising: means for determining, for each adjacent original images if any, a corresponding line between points of the adjacent original images; means for determining a corresponding line between a first boundary point of the page and the centre point of the first original image on the page; means for determining a corresponding line between a second boundary point and the centre point of the last original image on the page; means for measuring, for each said line, the shortest distance from an insertion point of the new image on the page to the said line; means for determining the minimum of the shortest distances; and means for re-ordering said one-dimensional list by inserting the new image in said list of original images at that position in the list corresponding to that line having the minimum shortest distance.
According to a seventh aspect of the invention, there is provided a method of determining a one-dimensional order of a plurality of objects arranged N-dimensionally, where N is greater than or equal to 2 and the method comprises the following steps: measuring, for each said object, the shortest distance from a predetermined point of the object to a predetermined Nxe2x88x921 dimensional surface; and determining a one-dimensional order of said objects according to the measured shortest distances.
According to a eighth aspect of the invention, there is provided a method of forming a one-dimensional list of a plurality of images arranged two-dimensionally on a page, the method comprising the following steps of: selecting a substantially linear line according to user input; measuring, for each said image, the shortest distance from a predetermined point of the image to the substantially linear line; and arranging the images in a one-dimensional list according to the measured shortest distances.
According to a ninth aspect of the invention, there is provided an apparatus for determining a one-dimensional order of a plurality of objects arranged two-dimensionally, the apparatus comprising: means for measuring, for each said object, the shortest distance from a predetermined point of the object to a predetermined line; and means for determining a one-dimensional order of said objects according to the measured shortest distances.
According to a tenth aspect of the invention, there is provided an apparatus for forming a one-dimensional list of a plurality of images arranged two-dimensionally on a page, the apparatus comprising: means for selecting a substantially linear line according to user input; means for measuring, for each said image, the shortest distance from a predetermined point of the image to the substantially linear line; and means for arranging the images in a one-dimensional list according to the measured shortest distances.
According to a eleventh aspect of the invention, there is provided a computer program product including a computer readable medium having recorded thereon a computer program for determining a one-dimensional order of a plurality of objects arranged two-dimensionally, the computer program product comprising: means for measuring, for each said object, the shortest distance from a predetermined point of the object to a predetermined line; and means for determining a one-dimensional order of said objects according to the measured shortest distances.
According to a twelfth aspect of the invention, there is provided a computer program product including a computer readable medium having recorded thereon a computer program for forming a one-dimensional list of a plurality of images arranged two-dimensionally on a page, the computer program product comprising: means for selecting a substantially linear line according to user input; means for measuring, for each said image, the shortest distance from a predetermined point of the image to the substantially linear line; and means for arranging the images in a one-dimensional list according to the measured shortest distances.